Faith Christian bests Raleigh Christian

Faith Christian rallied from a 9-0 deficit to start the game and Wes Caudle sank a free throw with less than three seconds to play to seal a 53-49, non-region win over Raleigh Christian on Monday night.

Eric Powell's 3-point play with just over 21/2 minutes remaining in the ballgame stretched the Conquerors' lead to 48-42.

The Eagles closed to within 52-49 on Kevin Wilson's 3 with 18.7 seconds left to play. Moments later, Raleigh Christian had a chance to tie the game with a 3 but Wilson was whistled for traveling.

Caudle sank the first of two free throws on Faith's ensuing possession to seal ice the win.

"Wes is a ninth grader," said Conquerors head coach Jeff Stocks. "We made a lot of mistakes, but we played hard. We're only going to get better."

Silas Dinlinger's 3 midway through the second quarter gave Faith (3-1 overall) its first lead at 19-18 and Brad Floars' 3 evened the score at 26-26 at the half. Floars finished with a game-high 16 points. Powell scored 12 and Dinlinger added 11.

The Eagles scored nine unanswered points to open the game prompting Stocks to call an early timeout. The Conquerors responded by scoring six of the next eight points including Chris Powell's 4-point play. Floars' 3 trimmed the deficit to 11-10 at the end of the first quarter.

"I told them, 'Look, you've got nerves and you're playing at home for the first time, let's settle down and keep pushing everything,'" said Stocks. "We try to push everything because we're not a good enough ballclub to play a half court game."